daisysusan | meta: In Praise of Elena Gilbert

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meta: In Praise of Elena Gilbert

Inspired by

fragmentedsky's Vampire Diaries graphic and this Overthinking It article about strong female characters, I decided to look at Elena Gilbert as a heroine and as a female character.

What inspired me about the article, called “Why Strong Female Characters Are Bad for Women,” is that the author calls out fictional media (movies specifically, but this is applicable to TV and books as well) on having given us female characters who are physically strong – or have some other “masculine” trait, such as the ability to fix cars – instead of well developed, interesting, complex characters who happen to be female.

Now, on the whole, I think The Vampire Diaries has done a tremendously good job with balancing their characters. Caroline and Katherine (and even Lexi) show that strength and self-reliance aren’t tied to masculinity; the most helpless characters are the uninformed ones, regardless of their genders, putting burly football player Matt on equal footing with slight grad student Jenna. Now, thus far, the only users of the immortality rings have been male, but I’m going to let that slide because Isobel giving one to Alaric to protect him is an inversion of traditional gender roles.

But gender roles on The Vampire Diaries aren’t the point of this post; they’re a whole other post unto themselves. What I want to talk about is Elena, and how she functions within the show.

First of all, she’s an anomaly. Very few fantasy shows have as a main character the Regular Jane. The reason for that, of course, is that the damsel who needs rescuing isn’t an interesting character; the interesting character is the rescuer. By making her the main character – meaning she has to be interesting and compelling – the creators prevented themselves from making her a passive character who gets into danger so that her Strong Vampire Boyfriend(s) can rescue her.

(In fact, Elena is an anomaly even within the show. She is the only main character who knows about the goings-on in Mystic Falls without some sort of supernatural strength of protection. The only humans consistently involved – Alaric and Jeremy – have their protection rings. Even the members of the Council have their training and resources to protect them. Elena is protected by a vervain necklace, which is neither high-tech nor supernatural. It’s also easily removed, as occasionally required by the plot.)

Think about it. How many of the great female TV heroines fit into that mold? Certainly not the archetypical Buffy, who has superpowers and a once-in-a-generation calling. Not so much Veronica Mars either; though she lacks superpowers, she’s an exceptional detective and unusually intelligent. Elena, though she is “special” in the sense that she is the Petrova doppelganger, is smart but not unusually so. Her abilities lie mostly in stereotypically female realms – she’s empathetic, kind, selfless, and loving. She is a compelling character despite lacking the qualities often given to main characters for the express purpose of making them compelling.

Lexi
Oh, so Elena's not a raging bitch, then?

Stefan
No. No, Elena is ... Elena is warm, and she's kind, and she's
caring, and she's selfless, and it's real.

This brings me to a point mentioned in the article, that female heroines are often given stereotypically masculine characteristics – both to make them more interesting and to demonstrate that men don’t have a monopoly on those things. Sometimes, it’s handled (think Buffy and her super-strength) and sometimes it isn’t (think the Megan Fox character in Transformers and her mechanic skills). And usually, the characters without this token trait are more stereotypical damsels in distress.

But Elena doesn’t have that. It’s okay, because other female characters have more “masculine” traits, and because not all women in real life have those traits anyway. Besides, Elena has plenty of virtues (which Stefan was kind enough to list for us). She’s warm, kind, caring, selfless, the ultimate giver. She empathizes with everyone around her, often even if they don’t deserve it. She keeps cool under pressure, by fighting back against vampires, protecting her family, and making choices that will protect the most people. She’s smart – she can piece together patterns of events, she can recognize danger and act accordingly. Those qualities are all desirable ones, and possessing them makes her an admirable character. The fact that they’re almost all stereotypically “feminine” does not lessen their value, because Elena uses them to reinforce her agency.

Stefan
Everything you know, and every belief you have, is about to change. Are
you ready for that?

Elena
What are you?

Stefan
I'm a vampire.

Oh, and then like a normal, sane person, Elena flips the freak out.

(Oh, and I borrowed this gif from

softly_me without her permission.)

Needing to be rescued from super-strong vampires does nothing to negate those virtues. There is no reason to believe that regular human Elena would be able to kick that type of supernatural butt, and having her randomly be able to do so would make her character less credible.

And credibility is a key reason that Elena Gilbert is a great character. She’s credible because her character traits are interconnected and lack blatant contradiction. She’s credible because they make sense within the context of her history (wanting to protect her family and friends makes sense for a girl who knows that her parents did the same for her). She’s credible because her flaws aren’t tics tacked on at random; instead, they stem directly from her other traits.

Elena
I know the deal I made, Stefan. Elijah's very careful with his words.
He promised to protect my friends. He never said a word about me.

Stefan
You mean that you know that you weren't gonna survive this?

Elena
If it comes down to the people I love getting killed, or me, I know what
my choice is gonna be.

Stefan
Elena, how ... How could you stand out there earlier with me, talking
making plans for our future, when you don't even expect to have one?

Elena
I'm sorry, Stefan. I'm just trying to keep the people that I love safe. I'm
trying to keep you safe.

Because she’s so caring and empathetic, she has trouble severing her emotional connections to people, even if they don’t treat her well. She’s so invested in protecting her family and not letting (more) people die on her behalf that she’s willing to throw away her life to protect them. She analyzed the situation with Elijah and Klaus logically and concluded that the best way to protect everyone else was to give herself up. This blurring of the lines between virtues and vices is a very realistic take on personality, which makes Elena a much more compelling character.

Should Elena care about Damon? Maybe not. But she does.
(by

crowandfog)

The last point I want to make, which I mentioned earlier, is that Elena has agency. I get the feeling this has already been pretty well discussed in fandom, but it’s impossible to have a complete deconstruction of Elena’s value as a character without mentioning it. She knows her own limitations in terms of physical strength, but she doesn’t let those limitations hold her back. She fights back against the bad guys (whether they’re human, vampire, or otherwise), she makes her own decisions. And she does all that while loving everyone around her. And, quite frankly, I could talk about how important love is, but I’ll never be able to do a better job than J. K. Rowling, so I’m not even going to try.

Oh, here, have this adorable gif of Elena and Bonnie helping Caroline feel better after a crappy day

(by

crowandfog)

And this link to an awesome clip of an awesome girl saving her vampire boyfriend.

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I love, love, love this post so much.

Hey. Other fandoms. PAY ATTENTION TO ELENA GILBERT.

This is such a wonderful post. While Caroline will always hold her place as my favorite character, I appreciate Elena for... well you basically said it all here. She's a great, well balanced character brought to life as a living, breathing person. Also, I happen to be a huge fan of Nina ever since Katherine entered the show, so I may be bias but either way, the writers have done a wonderful job presenting Elena as the character she's become.

Thanks! I really love Elena for being so real.

And Nina is awesome; I watched Katerina again the other day and was blow away AGAIN.

Katerina is one of my favorite episodes. <3 It's really easy to like Nina, I think, because of this. Also - I adore watching her interview with Paul and Ian. They're hilarious together.

I think a lot of people don't like Elena because they so easily put her in the same category as Bella. I can see where they come from but I think Elena is like the perfect balance to the show.

Oh yeah, Katerina is great. And the interviews with all three of them are hilarious!

Yeah, I've heard stuff like that about Elena, too. But really, she doesn't have the problems as a character that Bella does. And besides, she's AWESOME.

(Actually, she's not my favorite character either. It's probably a toss-up between Stefan and Caroline.)

Here via [Bad username or site: softly_me / @ livejournal.com].

And yesssss Elena!! I could go on and on about all the reasons I love her, but you pretty much stated them all here. I love that we have a FEMALE CHARACTER with typically FEMALE TRAITS and instead of those traits being seen as a weakness, we're consistently shown that Elena's empathy and bravery and willingness to understand others is part of what makes her so strong.

Also even though she doesn't have super strength, I love that Elena has consistently become more badass as the series go on. Yes, she often still needs her vampire boyfriend(s) to rescue her, but she will claw and fight her way out first.

Edited 2011-02-17 02:18 (UTC)

softly_me is wonderful for pimping my stuff.

I also love that Elena is becoming more badass. It makes sense, that she would get better at fighting and using her resourcefulness to save herself. Also, it's awesome. :D

Edited 2011-02-17 02:33 (UTC)

She is good that way. :p

I feel like I've seen you around TVD fandom a bit and you wrote that excellent Caroline fic AND WE BOTH LIKE ELENA GILBERT so friends?

Of course! I feel like I've seen you around as well. :D

\o/

Look I have an icon of that scene too!

(I am so friendshippy about Caroline and Stefan but then as soon as someone talks about it in a non-platonic way I get all weird and fight the urge to throw things. IDK it's weird.)

I loved that scene so much! In my headcanon, they're BFFs forever after the show. (I can totally see them as a ship in the future, but I get so OMGHAPPYYAY about Stefan and Elena that it's kind of moot.)

RIGHT? And after Elena dies, Stefan is going to need his BFFs shoulder to cry on.

Yesssssss.

Though I did just read a post that mentioned that vamping Elena would be a very easy way out of the whole doppelganger snafu. And I do kinda believe that this show is crazy enough to do it in the second season.

So it's possible Elena won't die. Y'know, for a long time.

Elena is a great character and this is a great post.

Thanks!

Hi, I followed

softly_me's link.

This is everything I always babble at people about Elena! I love this. I often think back to a vid I saw a couple years back (http://0mindthegap0.livejournal.com/18755.html) that was trying to raise the issue of female heroes taking on negative "masculine" traits (hair-trigger violence, aggression against romance partners, consent issues, etc). Some people said, "yeah! How come we never get a caring, nurturing lady and that's her amazing skill?" AND THEN IT WAS LIKE KEVIN W WAS PSYCHIC AND GAVE US ELENA.

Hi!

First, that vid is awesome. Second, I feel like it's so so so important that Elena is so warm and loving but she's not like the old-timey damsel in distress. It's like someone finally had a reality check and was like "WAIT. THERE'S NO REASON THAT A GIRL CAN'T BE CARING AND BE TOTALLY WILLING TO FIGHT TO SAVE HERSELF AND HER REALLY HOT VAMPIRE BOYFRIEND.

Yes, she has miraculous hugging powers and will also stab a werewolf in the stomach. Her emotions don't make her weak.

One of the things I find really refreshing about Elena is that they SHOW us how warm, loving, forgiving, and empathetic she is way more than anyone ever mentions it. I think that characters have pointed out these qualities like once per season (Stefan to Lexi, Damon to Rose). I've seen so many characters where I feel like the writers keep trying to TELL ME they are "the heart" of the show blah blah so insightful with their hearty-ness and empathy etc etc... except when I watch the show I don't SEE it myself. All I see is self-righteousness, condescension, preaching, and self-involvement. If people weren't harping on and on about it, I never would have attributed those qualities to the character. I don't admire them for their compassion and forgiveness.

But Elena, I started seeing these characteristics in her and sincerely admiring her all on my own. The show didn't have to tell me I should. The weird thing is, typically my favorite characters in media are the bitchy, sarcastic, cruel ones. But I think maybe it's just that no one was writing that kind of person in a way that spoke to me. Because Elena has legit become my fav thing on TVD -- though admittedly, only a little ahead of Damon&Stefan, because I pretty much frame everything on TVD through my OT3.

One of the things I find really refreshing about Elena is that they SHOW us how warm, loving, forgiving, and empathetic she is way more than anyone ever mentions it.

OMG YES THIS. She genuinely understands and empathizes with the people around her and she ~~never~~ rarely uses that to manipulate them. After last week's ep, I was talking with a friend about Stefan and Elena's fight at the end, and whether or not it felt contrived, because the whole dying-to-save-people stuff is pretty overdone and clichéd. But when it came down to it, we couldn't see Elena doing anything else, because she's so selfless and caring.

I am impressed that you can single out your legit fav thing on TVD BECAUSE I CANNOT NO MATTER HOW HARD I TRY. Literally it changes during every scene. Caroline will be on screen and I'll be all OMG CAROLINE YOU'RE MY FAVORITE but then Stefan or Elena shows up (or Damon and Alaric being all BFF) and I flail and go OMG NO YOU'RE MY FAVORITE EVER. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Okay, I'm here. Sorry for the failure to comment in good time. But I did pimp you on my journal and on F!S, so I think I should still get points.

Her abilities lie mostly in stereotypically female realms – she’s empathetic, kind, selfless, and loving. She is a compelling character despite lacking the qualities often given to main characters for the express purpose of making them compelling.

Uh, so well-said. This basically sums up everything about Elena that I love. She so strong and active in the plot without having superstrength or the ability to read minds or anything else. As someone once said (don't remember who), Elena is empowered, not super-powered. She's sensible and caring and completely in control of her life.

There is no reason to believe that regular human Elena would be able to kick that type of supernatural butt, and having her randomly be able to do so would make her character less credible.

Exactly! Elena is sooo relatable because she is a normal girl. And normal people aren't able to fight off super-strong vampires. They just aren't.

I forgive you because you pimped me and I love people who do that. It makes me feel like I'm all cool and popular and shit.

Elena is empowered, not super-powered.

This is such a great way of putting it. :D

--> This was actually me during this whole list of "whyelenagilbertisawesome"!
Seriously, I absolutely love the way you describe her, it's like you said all the reasons why I love her!
And this why I don't get the hate she gets in TVD fandom! This girl is such a great charachter (and super good mention to Nina for playing her like she does <3)

So really, perfect post is perfect :')

I'm glad you liked it! I had so much fun sitting down and listing off all the reasons I adore Elena. The idea that people hate her makes me sad. SO I JUST IGNORE THEM AND THINK ABOUT HER AWESOMENESS. I figure that they're just jealous that they aren't as freaking badass as Elena.

(Oh lord yes, Nina is awesome on this some. Sometimes I forget that Elena and Katherine are both played by the same actress.)

Same here! Sometimes I'm like: dude they look so much alike and then I'm like DUDE IT'S THE SAME GIRL!
Everything changes when she's Katherine, the way she walks, the way she smiles, the way she looks, seriously! Nina is so great for playing both so good :')

I love love love how much her physicality changes based on whether she's playing Elena or Katherine. IT'S KIND OF GENIUS.

this post is just... BRILLIANT!!

You have officially given me an entirely new perpective on Elena's character and I'm overcome with the urge to rewatch so many episodes so I can cement it =O

I've always liked Elena, but tbh I've never had the same zest for her that I do for Caroline and Bonnie(who two of my favorite TVD characters). I was even actually annoyed at times with her "lack of quirks" and what have you--but NO MORE because you hit the nail over the head with this post: what makes her so extraordinary is that she is an ordinary girl with some of the greatest and (sadly) most underrated traits and that is what makes her AMAZING!!

But Elena doesn’t have that. It’s okay, because other female characters have more “masculine” traits, and because not all women in real life have those traits anyway. Besides, Elena has plenty of virtues (which Stefan was kind enough to list for us). She’s warm, kind, caring, selfless, the ultimate giver. She empathizes with everyone around her, often even if they don’t deserve it. She keeps cool under pressure, by fighting back against vampires, protecting her family, and making choices that will protect the most people. She’s smart – she can piece together patterns of events, she can recognize danger and act accordingly. Those qualities are all desirable ones, and possessing them makes her an admirable character. The fact that they’re almost all stereotypically “feminine” does not lessen their value, because Elena uses them to reinforce her agency.

I could quote this entire post tbh (lol) but this bit particularly resonated with me because I was, sadly, one of those people who often (subconciously) looked for masculine traits in female characters as a demonstration of their strength, but the danger in that is the fact that women in the real world more often than not won't have Buffy's superpowers (or even the physical strength of a much lesser caliber tbh) and for that reason, while such characters are not without their merit, they don't illustrate something girls/women can generally relate to--and herein lies Elena's merit: her relatability.

And, by extension (like you said) her overall credibility as a character =)

gaah so much love for this post, thank you for giving me an entirely new perspective on a character that I often overlooked =)<3

Thank you! I'm flattered that it changed your whole perspective on Elena. Mostly I was just overcome with all this LOVE because she's quite possibly my favorite on the show (except for maybe Stefan).

I guess what I wanted to point out what that strength in a female (or male) character doesn't have to be related to snarkiness or physical prowess or anything. But most I was just like OMG ELENA I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. (Oh, and then three days after I wrote this she STABBED HERSELF IN THE STOMACH and I was like YOU ARE SO MY GIRL.) Elena is the audience stand-in character, but she's a real person as well, and that's really important. It does away with the idea that the audience stand-in has to be useless and blank.

Oh, this is fantastic. I love Elena and she doesn't get the credit in fandom she deserves. But she is a wonderfully developed, realistic, and dynamic character with a great sense of agency, and you've broken that down here so well.

Thank you! She really is a wonderful character, quite possibly my favorite on the show.

Love that you made this post for sooo many reasons. Right now I'm really on the fence about Elena. I don't know if I like her or not. That in itself I think speaks for the writers and the actress. If she were a flat character, I wouldn't care.

She has qualities I really apreciate, but also I few I don't. I keep forgetting that she is only 17 years old, lost both her parents, worries about her brother, finds out her new love is a vampire, gets chased and almost killed. I mean, wow. And even through that, she sticks by her friends.

I just don't know about Elena. Thank you for taking the time to make this post! I needed a new perspective on this!

The fact that you're on the fence about her, and that she isn't all good (and really, she isn't) speaks a lot to the nature of the show, I think. It seems to revel in shades of grey. Elena may be a lighter shade than, say, Katherine, but she's certainly not a pure angel of perfect purity.

I'm glad you enjoyed the post! Mostly I just felt like Elena deserved a bit of respect for being a good character, regardless of whether or not people actually like her.

I know! That's what I love about her too. Some episodes I cheer for her, like her stabbing herself, calling Elijahs bluff...wow! That was balsy! When characters are all black and white, all good or all bad...snorefest!

I love that everyone on the show is both good and bad in realistic ways. It's so much more fun to watch.

It's what has kept me watching so far.

I adore this post and everything it chooses to be!

I love that she embodies many of these traits that may not be traditionally 'heroic' or 'strong' in a more 'masculine' sense. Regarding the hate or the lack of love she gets from some corners of the fandom, I often think it's easy for some to confuse what I see as the more problematic frame of the love triangle and ways in which it can be disempowering and strip away her sense of agency with Elena herself. It's not her fault that these boys can be overzealous and paternalistic. What's interesting and cool is that inside that sometimes narrow confinement, Elena negotiates space to maneuver and often lead/be rather badass (I'm thinking specifically of "The Dinner Party" but there are other examples, some not as extreme). And that's something that I always feel is true to many women in 'real life'. This cultivating of different forms of strength and power that perhaps many may not see as "strong" or "powerful", all within very constrained positions of inequality and oppression.

Also, as that article really called out, this conception of female 'strength' can a) be so one-dimensional and b) limiting. I love Elena for everything that makes her 'good', I love that sometimes those very things that make her good can in some ways make her intensely flawed, and in the end thoroughly human.

I do think that sometimes the writers can write her to fit plot in ways that can be uncomfortable-making - but they do that with every single character from time-to-time and again, not her fault. So whatevs.

ETA: I love that Elena loves sex. And that the show doesn't treat sex, and the having of sex (lol, clumsy construction), as an act punishable by some horror - basically the show doesn't punish her for being sexual (i.e. Joss Whedon, Stephanie Meyer, the creators of Smallville and a long history of literary tradition - I'm looking at you)

Sorry for this long-ass essay (it's a part of half-written meta for her, so it's all on the brain), didn't mean to vomit all over your page. I'd love to rec it over at

tvd_women or if you'd like to cross-post it there, go ahead, because everyone should read this.

Edited 2011-03-18 11:41 (UTC)

It's not her fault that these boys can be overzealous and paternalistic.

Absolutely. And it's wonderful that, instead of just accepting their (understandable) desire to protect her (after all, she wants to protect them, too), she stands up for her right to know what's going on. It's no more okay for Stefan and Damon to lie to Elena about what they're doing to protect than it is for her to lie to them.

Oh god the sex stuff. I was so sure that Caroline was going to die horribly, because she was blonde and likes sex. And now instead of being dead, she's kicking ass and liking sex.

I'll cross-post to TVD women later today; there's all this pesky class I need to go to first. And I thoroughly enjoyed your long comment!

How excellent to see a meta on why Elena is AWESOME :D Thank you so much for writing this!

She knows her own limitations in terms of physical strength, but she doesn’t let those limitations hold her back. She fights back against the bad guys (whether they’re human, vampire, or otherwise), she makes her own decisions. And she does all that while loving everyone around her.
Exactly! *_____*

You're welcome. It was very much my pleasure to write. :D

With some additional information, this essay could be the PERFECT addition to the community idol_reflection

Huh. I'd never heard of the comm before, but there's some really cool stuff there!

OMG I loved reading this! I’ve never really thought about Elena’s rather unique position as basically the only ‘Regular Jane’ as the central protagonist on a t.v show.

I also thought that what you said about her using stereotypically feminine virtues to reinforce her agency was really interesting. I’ve always felt a little ‘mehhhhh’ about this on the show. At this stage, half way through season 2, Elena has got to be my favourite female character but originally, I did find her annoyingly bossy and sanctimonious and it seemed bizarre to me that she had as much agency as she did have, given her clearly inferior position in terms of power.

Ohhhh yay for finishing on that clip! I love those rare moments in TVD when Elena’s humanity gives her power. Hmm...maybe they’re actually not that rare. I love them anyway. And just...Stelena <3

And yuhh, as I say, LOVED reading this. Made me all:

Thanks for posting and sozzy if I bored you with my overlong comment!

Thank you so much for reading! I'm glad you liked it.

Yeah, Elena is definitely sometimes bossy and sanctimonious, but I just can't get over how awesome it is that her humanity is what gives her strength.

Omg smiles! I love them so hard.

Agreeeeeeeeed <3

On all counts ;)

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meta: In Praise of Elena Gilbert

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